BEIJING - China is confident of achieving the full-year target of 10 percent growth in foreign trade, although the growth slowed in the first quarter due to cumulative factors, the Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

In the first three months, the country's exports and imports rose 7.3 percent from a year earlier.

"The growth rate was relatively low. It was a result of cumulative factors from both home and abroad," MOC spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference here.

Shen said the ministry was confident that the growth would pick up in the second quarter and the full-year target would be achieved.